“Belay that,” Chevalier countered. He then turned to Zohn, “Let’s just figure it out on our own.”
He nodded.
“Service records on Farmer,” Kyle said.
The Records Keeper disappeared and then returned with a file, “Came to us from the Oahu Coven 73 years ago. Started out as second-floor cleaning crew. No commendations, no disciplinary actions, clean record. He was moved to the first-floor cleaning crew 17 years ago.”
Chevalier thought for a moment, “So he started here before Emily came to the palace. At least he wasn’t sent here specifically to spy on her.”
“I’m not a spy,” Farmer said again, his voice barely a whisper.
“You’re lying, so shut up,” Richard snapped at him.
***
Emily rolled over and turned off her phone alarm. She looked around the room quickly, but saw that Chevalier wasn’t there. He knew she was supposed to meet the Valle tonight, so she got up and got dressed to wait for him. It wasn’t but 10 minutes later when he came in with Kyle and 20 members of the Cavalry.
“Ready?” he asked, looking her over.
She nodded, “I’m still surprised you’re letting me do this.”
“Of course I am,” he said, smiling. “What we’re going to do is follow behind you a ways. Don’t worry about us, do what you want and we’ll take over when we feel it’s necessary.”
“Sounds easy enough,” she said, and started down for the stables. Her horse was already waiting for her and soon she was riding toward the derelict Durango. A few yards from the clearing, she slipped off the stallion and tied him to a tree. She looked behind her toward the dark forest, but saw no indication that the Equites were there.
When she stepped out into the clearing, she saw Charles turn suddenly toward her. There were 18 other Valle in the clearing and all faced her.
She fought back any fear she felt and crossed her arms, reminding herself that he was the same Chuck Norris that she’d known since infancy, “Why did you call me out here?”
He glared at her and took a step forward, “You know why, don’t be dim, Emi.”
“Well it’s not going to work. I just came to get Quiesco and then I’m heading back.”
He grinned, “No you aren’t. You’re coming back to the Valle with us.”
“Says who?”
“I say so. You’re a menace to the heku and you have to be dealt with.”
Her face softened, “Why, Chuck? We were friends until Keith came along. I remember skinny dipping in the irrigation ditch with you and your brothers.”
“That was a long time ago when I wasn’t aware of how much of a bitch you are,” he said, glaring at her.
“How can you believe Keith?”
“He was a great man and loved you more than you deserved. I can’t believe what he put up with just to stay with you.”
She nodded and then looked around, “Where’s my dog?”
One of the Valle appeared holding the squirming Bulldog in his arms, “He’s going to die unless you agree to come with us.”
It all happened fast. Emily turned the heku with the dog to ash, and was immediately tackled by another Valle. The entire area suddenly swarmed with heku in green as someone slammed into the Valle on top of her and threw him further into the trees.
She got to her knees and pulled the Bulldog closer to her as heku blurred around her in a fight. She was ready to turn any left-over Valle to ash. One heku broke out of the pack and started for her angrily. Her eyes grew wide and she stood up and took a step away from him.
Mark appeared behind the Valle and removed his head, spraying Emily with warm heku blood. Mark turned and disappeared after another Valle as Emily looked down at the headless heku at her feet.
When the fighting stopped, there were piles of dead Valle lying around her, and still more piles of ash that she didn’t create. Kyle smiled at her just as the last Valle turned to ash at his feet.
“Are you ok?” Chevalier asked, walking up to her. He gently brushed the hair away from her face and followed her gaze to the heku in front of her.
“Where’s Chuck?” she asked, looking around at the Equites. None of them were missing and she was thankful the Valle hadn’t killed one of the Cavalry.
“He’s ash,” Kyle said, showing her a small leather bag.
“Gather up the ashes and uniforms,” Chevalier said, taking her hand gently. She looked once more at the lifeless heku and started back to her stallion with him.
They stopped on the fourth-floor and Chevalier turned to Emily, “Do you want to be in on this trial?”
“Chucks?”
“Yes”
“Not really.”
He smiled, “Silas will come wait with you then, ok?”
She nodded and went up the stairs to wait.
Kyle and Chevalier headed into the trial area where the 10 piles of ash were laid out beside the scattered clothing. Kyle went to work immediately and Chevalier took his seat to wait. The fifth heku revived was Charles, Emily’s friend from Cascade, Montana.
Charles was obviously furious as he turned to face the Council and glared at Chevalier.
Chevalier nodded, “Interesting to see you among them. I still have a bone to pick with you over Emily’s attempted escape from the Valle prison.”
“I wasn’t going to let her go!” Charles snapped. “She needs controlled and it will take the Valle to do it.”
“So why did the Valle turn her over to the Equites pseudo-Council?”
“We mistakenly thought they could teach her obedience. We had no idea they were just going to let her go once we convinced her you were scattered.”
“So you were in on that too?” Zohn asked him.
He smiled, “Proudly.”
When all 10 of the Valle were revived and had recovered from the burning pain, the Court Reporter stood, “You 10 are now charged with crimes against a member of the Equites Council, how do you plead?”
Charles snarled, “Not Guilty! She’s not a member of the Council. She’s a mortal pest who has managed to weasel her way into your lives.”
The Court Reporter ignored most of what Charles had said, “Do all of you plead Not Guilty?”
The rest of the Valle nodded.
“Very well, your trial will begin soon…”
Chevalier held his hand up, “We can try them now.”
The Court Reporter nodded, “Then your trial is to begin now. The Valle will be advised as soon as the sentence is carried out. What are the charges?”
“We should ask Emily here to get her account of what happened,” Zohn suggested.
“I’ll tell you. I’m not afraid or ashamed of what I’ve done,” Charles said.
“Then by all means…”
“Shortly after Emi’s return from Europe, I began sending threatening notes to her via one of your servants…”
“We know this part already,” Chevalier said.
“She told you?” Charles asked, frowning.
“Go on.”
“We ended up kidnapping her dog and holding him for ransom. Our plans were to drug her and then return her to the Valle.”
“The Council was in on this then?”
“Not all of them. Sotomar was our main contact.”
Zohn frowned, “I’m not sure if you’re being a tattle-tale or if you’re showing bravery.”
“Why deny it?” Charles asked. “Emi will tell you all of this is true, unless she decides to show her true colors and lie again.”
“Just keep talking,” Chevalier snapped.
Charles smiled, “When she arrived at the clearing we shared a few heated words and then I headed for her to sedate her. Next thing I know, I’m being revived here.”
The Court Reporter wrote for a few minutes and then turned to the Elders, “That leaves charges as harassment of a member of the Council, assault, theft, spying, trespassing, and attempted kidnapping.”
“Quite the list,” Chevalier said to Charles.
/>
“Might as well add breaking and entering,” he said, smiling.
“Are you not taking this seriously?”
“No I’m not. I’m pretty sure Emi will come rescue me.”
“So am I, so we’re going to hold this trial and hand out the punishments now,” Chevalier said. He then smiled when Charles’ smile faded.
“But…”
“… Guilty.”
“Wait!” Charles said, irritated. “That’s not a trial.”
Zohn chuckled, “A trial is simply a determination of a person’s guilt or innocence by due process of the law. I do believe your admission of the findings is a clear guilty plea. I vote guilty.”
The Council each, in turn, voted Guilty while Charles kept arguing that the trial was a farce.
The Court Reporter ignored his complaining and stood up, “The 10 of you are hereby found Guilty on all charges. The Elders will decide on a punishment that is to be carried out immediately.”
“Wait!” Charles said frantically. “I want to talk to Emi first.”
“No,” Chevalier told him. “I’m not going to play that game. You’ve been a thorn in her side since you friended Keith and I’m ready to be done with you.”
“She’ll be mad over this.”
“No, she won’t. I’ll explain it to her. I vote death.”
“Death!?” Charles yelled.
“Yes, death. I won’t risk banishing you and having Em dig you up.”
“Still…”
“How old are you?” Kyle asked the young heku.
“I was turned 7 years ago.”
“Damn, bad choices in one so young.”
“I don’t have bad choices! I was assigned by my Council…”
“Bad choices,” Kyle said again.
Zohn tapped his fingers lightly, “I vote for banishment and burial with Powan.”
Quinn looked at him, “That’s not a bad idea.”
“That way we can banish him and Emily won’t be able to dig him up. I hesitate to kill one so young.”
Chevalier studied Charles.
“What?” Charles asked him, still angry.
“I think it’s odd that you were friends with Emily from childhood, yet when Keith stepped into the picture you turned on her.”
“What can I say? He opened my eyes.”
“So you went with the guy who had the nerve to bet a night with his wife in a poker game.”
Charles’ eyes narrowed, “I can’t believe she told you that.”
Kyle looked over at Chevalier, “That Sonofabitch gave Emily away to this idiot in a poker game?”
Chevalier nodded, “Then when she refused, he put her in the hospital.”
“She got bucked off of a horse…” Charles started, but then stopped suddenly and fell silent.
“Then you really are stupid. My vote stands at death, young or not,” Chevalier said. “Where is your wife?”
Charles sighed, “She left me.”
“I bet you cheated on her.”
“Just once! I was drunk… it was an accident. Then she found us on the kitchen counter…”
Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s not funny!” Charles said, glaring at him.
“Oh it is though. What did the Valle see in you to turn you?”
“I’m a really good mechanic,” he said, and it seemed to the others like he might be fighting back tears. “Please, I’m sorry ok? If I can just apologize to Emily and then I swear to leave her alone.”
“I agree with not allowing you to wait for Emily,” Zohn said. “My vote stands at banishment in Powan.”
Quinn nodded, “Banishment in Powan it is then.”
“You’re lucky,” Chevalier said to him. “But when you are revived… you better watch out for me.”
Charles gulped and then took a step back when Kyle stood, “How long?”
Quinn studied Charles and then shrugged, “Give them 400 years.”
“No!” Charles yelled. “I can’t do that, please.”
Chevalier addressed him, “It’s not often we banish one so young. Your thirst is so much more prevalent and it’s an added punishment to have you suffer. However, we don’t feel it’s in the best interest of this Council to let you live.”
“Then kill me.”
“No. When you are un-banished you may want to re-think your choices though.”
Charles fought against the strong arms of the Cavalry when they were summoned. When such a large group was to be banished, it often took guards to help restrain them while Kyle did his job. Kyle went from heku to heku, leaving Charles for last because the panic he exhibited was getting stronger and he wanted the young heku to suffer.
Once Kyle stood in front of the now cowering Charles, he smiled, “Your turn. You are hereby sentenced to 400 years of banishment. When you are un-banished, it will be up to the Valle if they want you back.”
“Please…” was all Charles managed before falling to ash. Kyle walked slowly up to sit down to recover from so many banishments. As a servant was brought in to begin bagging the ashes, the back door opened and Megara came in.
Chevalier turned his chair and pulled her onto his lap and kissed her forehead softly.
She wrapped her arms around him and looked down at the scattered ash before Chevalier turned.
“Did Mommy do that?” Megara asked as she leaned back in Chevalier’s arms.
“No, Kyle did that.”
“Was it bad heku?”
“Yes”
She frowned slightly and looked up at him, “Why can’t I do that?”
“We don’t know, maybe you can,” Chevalier said after ordering her something to drink.
“How can I find out?”
“I don’t know that either.”
She sighed and then looked over when Alexis came in, “Did you call her?”
Chevalier grinned and nodded, “Yes, you need to go with Alex. I have trials to finish.”
Megara crossed her arms and glared at him, “No.”
“You can’t tell me no,” he said, and handed her over to Alexis. “She has breakfast waiting.”
Alexis nodded and then took Megara from the room.
“Let’s finish up here so I can get back to Em,” Chevalier told them.
***
Silas stepped out of the bedroom when Chevalier and Kyle came in and shut the door behind them
“Did they hurt you?” Chevalier asked, trying to sound calm.
“No,” she managed to say, though she seemed upset.
After a few minutes, she looked up and saw Kyle was in the room also. He smiled, “They were going to sedate you. I bet you’re the most drugged mortal in history.”
“Lovely,” she said. “Where’s Chuck?”
“We’ve sentenced him already,” Chevalier told her.
She frowned, “Just Chuck or all of the Valle?”
“All 10 of them.”
“Sentenced… as in…”
He sighed, “Banished.”
Emily frowned, “I hate that! No one should ever be banished.”
“It’s an effective… ok so mostly effective means of punishment though. It’s that or death.”
“It’s awful. To suffer for hundreds of years.”
“They at least recover from that,” Kyle told her as he sat on the edge of the bed. “We kill them it’s over.”
“They do fully recover from a long banishment?”
“Of course.”
“I still don’t like it. Chuck’s a good guy, he just… I don’t know… lost this way.”
Chevalier gently lifted Emily’s chin so she was looking into his eyes, “Charles was a Valle and a puppet used to get to you. He had nothing but hatred and that’s dangerous.”
“I don’t know if I believe that.”
“I know, which scares me. We’ve taken care of Charles and the Valle. Now though, I want to thank you for telling us you were getting threatened.”
“Maybe I’m t
ired of getting beaten to a pulp. Course… if I tell you every time, you may need to quit your job to have time.”
Chevalier lightly kissed her and then peered into her eyes, “I always want to know if something’s wrong.”
“I know.”
“You kept it for a while though, let it go on too long.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
She sighed, “The Council just got reinstated… they didn’t need me to come tell them I was getting picked on.”
“So you were protecting the Council?”
“No”
“You were, it’s part of your charm.”
“My charm?”
“Yes, it’s endearing.”
“You aren’t mad?”
“Furious,” he whispered, and then pressed his lips to hers.
***
“The Valle have representatives here,” Derrick said to Council.
Zohn sighed, “Probably mad that we banished Charles and his posse last week.”
“Let them in,” Chevalier told him.
Several seconds later, Valle Elder Ryan came in, followed by the Valle’s Faction Liaison Officer and four Imperial Guards. The entire Equites Council watched them enter.
“Why are you here?” Quinn asked, a little shortly.
Ryan thought briefly before speaking, “We’ve come to inform you that Sotomar has been replaced.”
Chevalier was stunned, “He has?”
“Yes, his undying infatuation with Emily made him a liability and he’s been banished.”
“You banished him because of Emily?” Quinn asked, still not sure he heard right.
Ryan smiled, “No… not because of Emily. We wanted to make that very clear. He was in no way banished because of her. He was banished because he continually risked the Valle faction by trying to get to her.”
The Valle’s Faction Liaison Officer stepped forward, “We came peacefully to let you know because we are afraid of how the news will affect Lady Emily.”
Kyle nodded, “She’ll try to get him.”
“We were afraid of that. He’s been banished and then sent to a remote location for safety. We can’t risk him being revived and resuming his unnatural drive to obtain the last Winchester.”
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 71
